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Updated: Feb 24, 2026
Heterogeneous Removal of Water-Soluble Ruthenium Olefin Metathesis Catalyst from Aqueous Media Via Host-Guest Interaction
Published on: August 23, 2018
Rational Optimization of Supramolecular Catalysts for the Rhodium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation Reaction
Julien Daubignard1, Remko J Detz1, Anne C H Jans1
1Homogeneous, Bioinspired and Supramolecular Catalysis, van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098, XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Rational design of catalysts for asymmetric transformations is a longstanding challenge in the field of catalysis. In the current contribution we report a catalyst in which a hydrogen bond between the substrate and the catalyst plays a crucial role in determining the selectivity and the rate of the catalytic hydrogenation reaction, as is evident from a combination of experiments and DFT calculations. Detailed insight allowed in silico mutation of the catalyst such that only this hydrogen bond interaction is stronger, predicting that the new catalyst is faster. Indeed, we experimentally confirmed that optimization of the catalyst can be realized by increasing the hydrogen bond strength of this interaction by going from a urea to phosphine oxide H-bond acceptor on the ligand.
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